Final farewell for man killed by fleeing driver
Nearly five years after Kenneth McCaul turned his 60th birthday celebrations into a surprise wedding, people gathered at the same venue to say their final farewells.
McCaul, 64, was killed last Tuesday when the car he was in was T-boned by a driver who ran a red light while fleeing police. A 17-year-old has been charged with manslaughter and reckless driving causing injury.
Yesterday, about 150 of his friends and family gathered at the Rangiora, North Canterbury, home where he married his husband Owen Fraser in 2014 for his funeral.
Celebrant Hilary Muir, who married the couple, said McCaul’s life was ‘‘large, it was robust and it was utterly fabulous’’.
McCaul, the youngest of four with three older sisters, was a brilliant scholar who sailed through school and went on to do training to be a teacher, Muir said. ‘‘But after his first practical he was heard to say children are not for me.’’
He then had a successful career in sales at David Jones and other stores before working in jewellery. He eventually moved into care work, with his ‘‘natural inclination to help people’’ coming to the fore.
In 2006 he became a registered nurse in Perth, finishing at the top of his class. Following his parents’ deaths, he and Fraser moved to Kaiapoi in North Canterbury in 2010.
McCaul started working at a rest home before becoming a nurse aid at Christchurch Hospital. He spent the past two years as a phlebotomist, which he also referred to as a ‘‘blood collector or on a daily basis, he was a vampire’’, Muir said. McCaul was an accomplished pianist and a gifted interior designer.
‘‘As much as he was flamboyant the words that flowed from his gob were not the ones his mother probably would’ve approved of. Like everything Kenneth excelled at, he nailed swearing,’’ Muir said.
McCaul met Fraser at a Club in Perth, Australia, on a Sunday night in May 1979. ‘‘It was love at first sight. Kenneth fell in love with Owen’s beautiful, long locks ... They’ve had the most wonderful life together, the best partnership,’’ Muir said.
‘‘Their life together was blissfully happy right up until the 22nd of October.’’
McCaul’s brother-in-law read a text from one of his patients who said his ‘‘beautiful smile and gentle manner’’ always put her at ease. ‘‘When he first came to take bloods I queried his ability to do it without hurting me and he said this is my first day on the ward without supervision so let’s have a stab at it and see how I go.’’
At work, McCaul was the only one in his team to have their own trolley with his name on it.
‘‘If anyone of us touched it or rearranged it, boy did we hear about it,’’ one his colleagues said.
‘‘He was bigger than life ... we’ve lost a friend and a workmate,’’ she said.
Several other friends and family spoke of a caring man, with a ‘‘wicked sense of humour’’, who was always there for those when they needed him.
Several of his colleagues formed a guard of honour as his casket was carried to a hearse.